Next he imagined he was in the alley, in the little staircase he had so frequently ascended.

He inhaled the sickly odour of the passage, he touched the sticky walls, he saw the dirty shadow that hung about there.
And he ascended each step, breathless, and with his ear on the alert.

At last he scratched against the door, the door opened, and Therese stood there awaiting him.
His thoughts unfolded before him like real scenes.

With his eyes fixed on darkness, he saw.

When at the end of his journey through the streets, after entering the arcade, and climbing the little staircase, he thought he perceived Therese, ardent and pale, he briskly sprang from his bed, murmuring: "I must go there.